


Aude Lang Syne

by perhapsaperson



Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [12]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapsaperson/pseuds/perhapsaperson
Summary: On their way to see Robb's family for New Year's Eve, Robb and Renly get delayed by a blizzard, and stop for the night in a small town.Holiday advent challenge day 12, prompt: auld lang syne
Relationships: Renly Baratheon/Robb Stark
Series: Holiday advent challenge 2019 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566133
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	Aude Lang Syne

**Author's Note:**

> It's a day late and a touch rushed, but here it is, the last fic for the holiday advent thingy.

“Yeah, mom,” he says into the phone. “It’s coming down pretty hard.”

He stares out the window. It’s dark out, and snow sweeping across the highway in the wind, with the headlights he can barely see ten meters in front of the car. 

Renly gives him a quick look of sympathy, but quickly turns back to the road. He’s been driving for the last two hours, insisted on switching with Robb the last time they’d stopped for gas. Robb was fine to keep driving, he’d said, even though he’d driven all day yesterday and most of today. Two days of driving was nothing. Renly had not been convinced.

They shouldn’t still be driving, by now. When they’d stopped last night, because it was late and they were exhausted, there were only four short hours away from home. Robb figured they’d easily finish the trip in the morning, they’d reach their destination in time for lunch. The important thing was that they got here today, and that seemed like a given.

Unfortunately, the universe seems to have decided to spite Robb, specifically, and it had started snowing heavily last night, with no sign of stopping. 

Between digging their car out, waiting for the snow to be cleared out of the parking lot, and navigating the small town streets, most of which still hadn’t been cleared, they hadn’t even gotten out onto the highway until early afternoon. Robb hoped it’d be smooth sailing from there, but unfortunately the blizzard that had snowed the town in had decided to park itself firmly between Robb and his home.

The road was intermittently icy, and with the visibility as bad as it was, they couldn’t even see it coming. They’d been crawling along the highway at about 30kph for most of the day. Usually, with the roads this bad, Robb would’ve even tried driving today, would’ve waited it out at the hotel until the conditions got better.

Today was no normal day, though. It was December 31st, and he’d been fiercely determined to make it home, today. When he’d suggested pressing on and driving through the day, with a hint of desperation in his voice, Renly looked concerned but agreed without argument. 

Now, though. Now, it’s 10:14 pm, and they’re still 120 km away. 

Over the phone, his mother asks if they’re gonna make it home tonight. 

“Uh, no, I don’t think so,” Robb says, trying to sound normal around the lump forming in his throat. “We’ll probably have to stop somewhere for the night. You guys’ll just have to celebrate New Years without us.”

He tries to inject some lightness into his voice, to avoid showing the frustration and despair that were welling up in his chest. 

He missed whatever his mother said to him over the phone. “Yeah, we’re, uh, we’re stopping soon,” he says quietly. “Tell everyone I said hi.”

“Alright, Robb,” she says. “Love you.”

“Bye, mum,” he says. “Love you too.”

Renly takes his hand as he hangs up and stares despondently out the window.

“There’s a town coming up in a couple minutes,” Renly says. “We can stop there.”

“Alright,” Robb says.

The town comes into sight a few minutes later, a blur of light barely visible through the blizzard. They drive around a few minutes, looking for somewhere to stop.

Eventually, they pull up to a shabby looking motel.

Robb’s been staring dejectedly out the window the whole drive through town, and Renly must’ve noticed. “It’ll be okay,” he says, touching Robb’s arm gently. “We’ll get back tomorrow.”

Robb nods absently, stepping back out of the car. He shouldn’t be surprised that their plans didn’t work out, it’s just the most recent in a long series of disappointments. This year had started out so well; he was nearly through university, he had a decent job, and he had Renly. His family was doing perfectly well. 

Soon enough, though, everything went wrong. There was an accident that left his father dead, and his little brother permanently disabled. Robb was away, when it happened. He could barely believe it when his mother called him. Didn’t believe it, deep down, until he flew home for the funeral and saw his father's body lowered into the ground.

Now, at the end of the year, his family was shattered - left scattered across half the continent, wracked with grief, and on top of that their financial situation was now precarious. Then, the cherry on top of a horrible year, Robb got stuck working straight through the holidays, only to finally get off yesterday. 

The thought of going home for New Years had been something of a lifeline for him. It was the first time his family would all be together since the funeral - the first time Robb would see any of them, because he was stuck working in a far off city because he couldn’t afford to lose his job, on top of everything.

It wasn’t just a celebration, in his mind. It was the start of something new, with his family - some sort of healing, maybe. Or, at least, starting to move past the grief that had haunted them this year. Some kind of catharsis, maybe. But this year had robbed him even of that feeble hope. 

He swallows around a growing thickness in his throat.

Renly checks them into the hotel while Robb stands behind him, presumably looking miserable. Robb takes the room key he’s offered and heads for the door.

“Wait,” Renly says, gently tugging his sleeve. He tilts his head to the far end of the lobby, and Robb sees the shabby pub attached to the shabby hotel. It’s run down and dark, but packed with people, either townspeople celebrating the new year or others trapped here by the blizzard.

He gives Renly a reluctant look. 

“Let’s just go in for a minute,” Renly offers, raising his hands in a placing gesture. “You know, warm up a bit.”

At the moment, Robb really wants nothing more than to go to their room, fall into bed, and wait for the sweet release of unconsciousness. But Renly is giving him a sweetly pleading look, so Robb, reluctantly, agrees.

It’s dark, inside. On the tv is some sort of New Years countdown, chatter of the other patrons fills the air. He takes a seat at the bar, facing away from the tv. He doesn’t feel like thinking about the new year, right now.

Renly orders them drinks and starts talking to someone on his other side. Robb gently tunes them out, mulling over his own drink in silence. He listens to the murmur of conversations around him, and lets his mind wander. He tries to relax, to let go of his disappointment. 

Then, pulling him out of his thoughts, a single voice breaks through the chaos of the bar, shaky and a little off key, but the words are clear. 

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to life?

Then, as if a spell is cast over the room, the chatter slowly quiets to a halt, and the other patrons join in singing.

Should old acquaintance be forgot, for auld lang syne?

Nearly everyone in the pub is singing now, and they’re moving together, taking each others hands. He feels Renly, next to him, lacing their hands together. A stranger, on his other side, offers up his hand. Almost to his own surprise, Robb takes it.

He hears Renly’s voice, floating through the air next to him, joining the song.

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne

Robb sings with them, and he feels a swell of emotion rising in his chest.

It’s midnight, now; the start of a new year. Tomorrow, he’ll be with his family, and they can move forward, start again. He’s ready to say goodbye to this year, to all the dread and sorrow it had given them. He’s ready to let go.

We’ll pass the cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

He tightness his hand around Renly’s and he sings with all the emotion he needs to let out, right here, right now, in this shabby bar in a small town by the highway.

As the song winds to a close, he turns to Renly and kisses him softly, into the new year. 

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you too,” Says Renly, giving him a soft, completely genuine smile.

It’s a new day, a new year, a new start. Right now, he believes, that things will be better. He takes Renly’s hand, and smiles.


End file.
